How To Rehydrate Your Ginger Bug
Rehydrating your Ginger Bug is easy. Just give it a few feedings of ginger, raw sugar, and filtered water. In a few days, your Ginger Bug will be bubbly and ready to make soda-pop!
How To Rehydrate Your Ginger Bug
Rehydrating your Ginger Bug is easy. Just give it a few feedings of ginger, raw sugar, and filtered water. In a few days, your Ginger Bug will be bubbly and ready to make soda-pop!
Ginger Bug Rehydration Instructions:
Rehydration Snapshot
Time Needed: 6 days
Ingredients:
Equipment:
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Use Only Organic Ginger & Filtered Water
Chemicals such as pesticides and chlorine can kill the bacteria and yeast that we need to create our ferment. Because of this, you should always use clean, filtered water and organic ginger when rehydrating and feeding your Ginger Bug.
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Keep Your Ginger Bug in a Dark, Warm, and Dry Location
The ideal location for your Ginger Bug is someplace warm (no warmer than 90°F), dark, and dry (humid locations attract mold). For example, a kitchen cabinet above a refrigerator or appliance.
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Cover Your Ginger Bug With a Cloth
Use the included muslin cloth to cover your Ginger Bug culture jar. This helps to keep away environmental molds and yeasts that we don't want in our mixture.
Ginger Bug Rehydration Timeline
Here is a quick breakdown of what to expect each day of the rehydration process.
Day 0 - First Feeding: After your first feeding, you won't see any bubbles or much activity at all. Cover your bug and store it in a dark, warm location for 24 hours.
Day 1 - Second Feeding: 24 hours after your first feeding, you may see small bubbles or you may not see any bubbling at all.
Day 2 - Third Feeding: 24 hours after your second feeding, you should start to see some bubbles forming at the top of your culture. Yay!
Day 3 - Fourth Feeding: 24 hours after your third feeding, your Ginger Bug culture should definitely have bubbles forming on top. If you don't see any bubbles at this point, there may be something wrong with one of your ingredients. Contact us ASAP so that we can help you troubleshoot!
Day 4 - Onward: As you continue to feed your Ginger Bug, the culture will become stronger with more bubbles. At this point, your culture is considered "active", but we recommend feeding until at least Day 6 before making soda.
Frequently Asked Questions
We recommend that you give your Ginger Bug at least 6 days of feedings before using it to make soda.
The longer you feed your Ginger Bug, the stronger it will become.
Your patience will be rewarded with a delicious fizzy soda!
There are a number of things that can slow down the fermentation process or (worst case scenario) kill your Ginger Bug:
- Temperature: Cooler temperatures (below 70°F) will begin to slow down the fermentation process and hot temperatures (over 90°F) could kill your bugs. Was your Ginger Bug stored in a location that was too hot or too cold? If so, try moving it to a new location and continue feedings.
- Chemicals: Did you use chlorine-free, filtered water? Did you feed your Ginger Bug with organic ginger? Pesticides and chemicals found in tap water can (and will) kill your bugs.
- Missed Feedings: Did you miss one or more feedings during the first few days of rehydration? This can dramatically slow down (or even kill) your Ginger Bug culture.
Undesirable yeasts and molds can sometimes end up in your ferment for a variety of reasons.
If you see colored mold or a thick white film on your Ginger Bug, it has become contaminated and should be discarded immediately.
What caused the contamination?
Was your Ginger Bug covered with the included muslin cloth?
Did you feed your Ginger Bug daily with organic ginger, chlorine free water, and sugar?
Was your Ginger Bug culture kept in a warm spot?
Your Ginger Bug will have pieces of floating ginger because the bubbles created from the fermentation process are lifting the pieces to the top of the jar. If you use small pieces of ginger to feed your bug, you will have more floating ginger pieces than if you use larger (heavier) pieces of ginger to feed your bug.